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GIGO – Garbage in garbage out: Center for American Progress issues new report

May 17, 2013 By 1 Comment

GIGO – Garbage in garbage out: Center for American Progress issues new report

A new CAP report offers a panacea for the economic doldrums of the 24 states with the largest illegal alien populations. Too good to be true? You bet.

The analysis by Robert Lynch and Patrick Oakford takes their earlier national study that was built on erroneous assumptions about the increased earnings potential of illegal aliens receiving amnesty and parses those supposed increased economic output and tax payments among the high illegal alien states.

The authors state that, “Legal status and citizenship provide access to a broader range of higher-paying jobs.” They appear to be unaware of the survey data conducted among the beneficiaries of the 1986 amnesty that found that five years after gaining legal status that there had been no significant gain in income relative to other workers and that many had actually lost ground economically. But even if it were true, it would simply means that amnesty would create greater competition for some jobs now held by legal workers. A greater number of job applicants would enable employers to hold down wages.

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Politics, Population

Potentially the Greatest Comprehensive Immigration Reform Fiasco in the History of the World

May 17, 2013 By 7 Comments

Ads featuring Marco Rubio (and Paul Ryan) shilling for amnesty and major increases in guest worker programs are now blanketing the airwaves. These ads are paid for by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s lobbying group, Americans for a Conservative Direction, which is nothing more than a front for the tech industry that supports the Rubio’s bill because it will substantially increase their access to lower-wage foreign workers. The Gang of Eight even included the so-called Facebook loophole, which expands the number of foreign workers companies (i.e. Facebook) can employ without restriction.

In one of the ads, Rubio claims that the Gang of Eight bill put in place “potentially” the toughest enforcement measures in the “history of the world.” So why then has Rubio made it clear that the bill as it now stands is not tough enough, and has vowed to fight to amend the bill to cut down on chain migration, to prevent amnestied aliens from receiving welfare, and to build that dang border fence –at least the 700 miles that was required by legislation passed in 2006. By Rubio’s reckoning, these new measures should make the bill the toughest in the known universe, and potentially in all as yet undiscovered dimensions of space and time.

If these new security and enforcement measures are not met, Rubio claims that one of his amendments would prevent already amnestied aliens from renewing their probationary status when it expires in six years time; except, presumably, for all of those who are put at the front the line, such as the “Dreamers” and agricultural workers who are eligible for a green card after five years. Rubio, who has lost all credibility on this issue, now wants the American public to believe that if the enforcement triggers aren’t met then millions of amnesty recipients will either be deported, or will revert back to their previous status and remain in the country illegally –he hasn’t made that part clear yet.

Where was Rubio when the bill was being negotiated? Was he even in the room? Did he just vote present? Or did he send his staff’s immigration lawyer to negotiate in his stead? Whatever the case, Rubio now realizes that the public is not buying what he’s selling, and he’s furiously scrambling to position himself on the right side of public opinion. Problem is, his fellow gang members are none too happy with his newly discovered concern for what the American people actually want from immigration reform. Once in, in for life, Marco, remember that. The Democrats are threatening to call your bluff, and if you torpedo this thing now, John McCain will forever give you dirty looks in the elevator. Mark Zuckerberg might even unfriend you.

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Jobs, Law, Politics, Population, Society

GOP Leadership Waits for Permission to Speak Out Against Executive Branch Abuses

May 16, 2013 By 11 Comments

The Republican leadership is outraged by the reprehensible behavior of the Obama Administration in the Benghazi cover-up, the use of the IRS to go after its political enemies, and the Justice Department’s unwarranted seizure of Associated Press phone records. They have every right to be outraged, but where was this outrage earlier, before the media gave Republicans the green light to express their indignation?

When President Obama usurped Congress’ authority over immigration policy and illegally declared that the DREAM Act would go into effect even though it had failed to pass (a Democratic controlled) Congress, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said nothing about this abuse of Presidential power. When President Obama brazenly refused to enforce immigration law and ridiculed those who want a secure the border as people who must want a “moat with alligators in it” along the southern border, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said nothing. As DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano continuously claimed that “record deportations” were taking place in the face of evidence, and the President’s own admission, that such claims were “deceptive,” Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said nothing.

McConnell and Boehner are content to let “gangs” in the Senate and House run the show on immigration reform. Neither has taken a position on one of the most transformative pieces of legislation in the history of the nation. If they are looking to be outraged there is plenty to be upset about in the Gang of Eight bill. Instead, they take their cues from the op-ed pages of The New York Times, demanding answers to questions they should have been asking long before now.

Selective outrage is better than none, but a party, any party, that would defend the Constitution and fight for the interests of the American people would be much better than what we have now.

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Border, Law, Politics, Population, Society

LA Times Editors Say Gang Members Deserve Amnesty

May 16, 2013 By 10 Comments

LA Times Editors Say Gang Members Deserve Amnesty

“The Senate Judiciary Committee is just beginning its markup of the bipartisan immigration bill, but already opponents and supporters of the sweeping legislation are fighting over which immigrants should be allowed to legalize their status and which should be deported,” the LA Times says in an editorial.

“Clearly it makes sense to refuse legal status to immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes. But some lawmakers, including Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), are backing a provision that goes too far, excluding immigrants who have no criminal history simply because their names appear in a database of gang members or on a gang injunction.”

Republicans in Secret House Amnesty Group Ready to Bolt

“Republicans in the House bipartisan immigration group are threatening to leave negotiations if they don’t come to an agreement Thursday. Reps. John Carter of Texas and Raul Labrador of Idaho both separately said the time for negotiations is over,” Politico reports.

“‘I think it’s time for us to move ahead with a Republican plan if nothing happens tomorrow,’ Labrador said. He characterized such a plan as ‘conservative immigration reform.’ That the House’s eight-person bipartisan group appears to be breaking down is a major development in the immigration debate. If the House does not come out with its own plan, it will make immigration reform a lot more difficult. The theory from Republican leadership was that the bipartisan group’s product would give the House GOP buy-in.”

Immigration the Major Source of Population Growth

“Immigration will be the primary driver of population growth in the United States within a few decades, a milestone not seen in almost two centuries, the Census Bureau projected Wednesday. The Census Bureau said immigration will outstrip natural increase — the difference between births and deaths for the total population — by as early as 2027, but no later than 2038. The differing scenarios depend on how many immigrants continue coming to the U.S.” the Washington Post says.

Rubio Amendment List Leaked

“Sen. Marco Rubio’s office circulated a list this month of ways to toughen security in the immigration bill he helped negotiate, including potential amendments to cut down on chain migration, to require newly legal immigrants to show financial self-sufficiency and to build 700 miles of double-tier fencing along the border,” the Washington Times says.

“Mr. Rubio’s spokesman said the list was drafted by senior aide Alberto Martinez and was shared with some offices of senators who were interested in changing the bill. The list appears to be a debate that lays out problems some critics have raised and amendments that could be made to allay those concerns.”

ICE Union Says Obama Administration Has Abdicated Enforcement

“According to Chris Crane, the current president of the union for ICE agents, the National ICE Council, President Barack Obama, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and ICE Director John Morton have all but abdicated their leadership in the enforcement of immigration laws and the protection of U.S. borders and citizens,” the Examiner writes.

“In a letter to Congress on May 9, Crane and a number of law enforcement executives complained that while business groups, activists, and other special interests were closely involved in the drafting of the proposed Schumer-Rubio immigration reform bill (S. 744), law enforcement personnel were excluded from those sessions.”

La Raza, Islamic Groups Will Get Tax Dollars Under Amnesty

“In a recent NRO piece entitled “Saul Alinsky and the Gang of Eight,” I discussed how, if Schumer-Rubio becomes law, federal dollars devoted to “immigrant integration” will pour into left-wing and Islamist activist groups to fund their own vision of that process. Now the 844-page bill has been replaced by an 867-page bill that makes the “Alinsky section” of the legislation even stronger,” says John Fonte at National Review.

“Apparently the senators wanted to make sure that leftist and Islamist advocacy organizations (CASA, La Raza, MALDEF, and CAIR and other Islamist groups) would not simply be grant recipients themselves, but would also be entrenched on the “New Immigrant Councils” that will help guide strategy, funding, and implementation at the local level. One could guess why the four Democrats on the Gang of Eight wanted leftist and Islamist organizations with such ‘legal and advocacy’ experience in behalf of immigrants placed on the new immigrant councils, but why did the four Republicans agree to it?”

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Crime, Politics, Population

Census Bureau Projection Shows 127 Million More Residents in Next 45 Years

May 15, 2013 By 6 Comments

The U.S. Census Bureau has released new population projections based on alternative scenarios for the rate of immigration. In the high immigration scenario (a net increase from 747,000 immigrants in 2012 to 1.6 million per year in 2060) the U.S. population would reach 442.4 million by 2060 (up 127 million from today’s 315 million). According to the Census Bureau press release, this high immigration rate would also speed up the advent of today’s white majority losing its majority status by 2041. By 2060, the minority population – today at 37 percent – would comprise 58.8 percent of the population.

A second, low-immigration scenario would also assume an increasing level of immigration, but one that would reach 824,000 per year in 2060. A third scenario is based on a constant level of net international migration of 725,000 residents. This last scenario results in a total population in 2060 of 392.7 million, i.e., 50 million fewer residents than in the high scenario. There is not much difference between the low and constant immigration scenarios – about 5 million fewer residents in 2060 in with constant net immigration.

The level of immigration is slated to become the major factor in the population rise and in the changing ethnic composition of the country. The Census Bureau press release states, “International migration is projected to surpass natural increase (births minus deaths) as the principal driver of U.S. population growth by the middle of this century…” It already is the primary driver of U.S population growth if the children born here to the immigrants are added to the net international migration.

The Census Bureau did not offer a net-zero immigration scenario that has been offered previously. Net-zero immigration means arriving immigrants equal that of residents leaving the United States to live abroad.

Filed Under: Population, Society

Lax Border Security Provisions Remain in Gang of Eight Bill

May 15, 2013 By 4 Comments

Despite committing to be open to improving their bill, Members of the Senate Gang of Eight on the Judiciary Committee rejected a multitude of amendments intended to strengthen the bill’s border security provisions.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup hearing Thursday to address the “border security” provisions (Title I) of the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, the two Republican Gang of Eight Members — Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) — consistently voted with the Committee’s 10 Democrats to block changes to the bill’s core “border security” provisions. As a result, the Committee failed to pass any meaningful reforms to the Gang’s nearly 900-page bill.

The only positive amendment adopted by the Committee was an amendment by Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to require the 90% apprehension rate goal outlined in the legislation to apply to all border sectors instead of just “high risk” sectors. (See Grassley Amdt. #1) As introduced, the Gang of Eight bill requires DHS to achieve a 90% apprehension rate at the U.S.-Mexico border, but only in “high risk” border sectors. The bill defines “high risk” as sectors in which border patrol agents catch 30,000 or more unlawful entrants per year. Sen. Grassley’s amendment struck all mention of “high-risk” sectors from the bill.

True immigration reformers offered numerous other amendments, but those failed. For example, Sen. Grassley offered an amendment that required that the border be under “effective control” for at least six months before DHS could process amnesty applications. Similarly, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) offered an amendment that: (1) required the border be secured before an amnesty could take place, (2) tripled the number of border patrol agents, (3) quadrupled the number of drones and cameras, (4) completed the border fence, and (5) implemented the biometric entry-exit system (US-VISIT). Sen. Lee introduced an amendment requiring Congress to certify the border as secured before any illegal aliens could be amnestied.

To view a listing of all of Thursday’s amendments, click here. The Senate Judiciary Committee continued amending the bill Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Border, Law, Politics, Population, Society
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